South Australia PACE exploration revival: key implications for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
South Australia is preparing to revive its Plan for Accelerating Exploration (PACE) program, signalling renewed state-backed funding and geoscience support for greenfields drilling. The original PACE rounds were credited with de‑risking targets in the Gawler Craton and Curnamona Province through pre‑competitive datasets such as high‑resolution aeromagnetics and deep seismic surveys. A rebooted scheme would likely prioritise critical minerals and undercover exploration, with implications for co‑funded drilling campaigns, access to new stratigraphic drilling data, and updated basin-scale geophysical models.
Technical Brief
- Revival discussion is occurring within South Australia’s existing mineral exploration regulatory and tenure framework.
- Strong backing is coming from exploration and mining companies already active in the state.
- Government signalling allows explorers to start planning work programs contingent on potential co-funding.
Our Take
South Australia features less frequently than Western Australia and Queensland in our 1069 Mining stories, so a revived Plan for Accelerating Exploration (PACE) signals the state is trying to close the exploration pipeline gap with the larger resource jurisdictions.
Government-led exploration stimulus like PACE in South Australia typically improves pre-competitive data coverage, which can materially reduce early-stage drilling risk and lower entry costs for juniors deciding between Australian regions.
With no specific commodity focus listed for this PACE iteration, the programme is likely to be important for polymetallic and critical minerals targeting in South Australia, where underexplored terranes have historically struggled to compete for capital against established iron ore and gold belts elsewhere in Australia.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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